The Power of Making Thinking Visible
- MTV gives students their autonomy back in the classroom. Gone are the lessons where teachers just transfer their own thinking to the students. Instead teachers can learn what is going on in students’ heads.
- MTV fosters our students’ ability to think through schemas that arise. It provides students with practice accessing their ideas and strengthens problem solving skills.
- MTV is an equitable practice that presents diverse narratives within a classroom. Every student and teacher may view a situation from a different angle.
MTV with Pre Verbal and Non Verbal Students
Teaching students who don’t currently have access to verbal language can present with challenges. Most Special Educators will tell you that visuals are EVERYTHING. Using visuals, MTV gives my students power in the classroom. This week my students
- Leaderless Discussion: Use vocabulary visuals from our current unit book, Sam and Penny, to show understanding of the idea. They line up ideas they see on pages.
- Teaching and learning honors people’s full humanity. MTV fosters independence and the ability for students to grow in their own identity. Each student is able to visualize how concepts fit into their own world rather than just the teachers’ experience.
- Making Meaning: Sort examples and non examples of new concepts.
- Name, Describe, Act: Grew in their language acquisition skills through adding adjectives with visual cards.
- Curriculum is more than standards, textbooks, and courses. Education gives opportunities. We can teach the child as a whole person and MTV helps us give agency to students.
Even with these strategies, teaching this population of students leaves a lot of grey area. There are a lot of times that I have to use many facets of the understanding map (below) to figure out their train of thought.
